Instant messaging (“IM”) is a popular form of computer-based communication in which text-based messages are exchanged between users in real-time. To use an instant messaging system, user terminals of the users must be connected to a communications network, such as the internet, and an instant messaging client application must be executed on the user terminal. The client application allows a user to initiate an instant messaging conversation with a remote user, by establishing a connection over the communications network. The user can then type a message and send it to the remote user (by pressing “enter” or actuating a “send” button), and the message is displayed in the user interface of the client of the remote user in near real-time (depending on network delays). The remote user may then subsequently type a reply and send it to the other user. The exchange of messages can continue in this way, in a similar form to face-to-face verbal conversation.
IM therefore has significant advantages over other text-based forms of electronic communication, such as email, in that it is much more interactive and therefore provides a much richer user experience. However, due to the fact that typing a message can take a significant period of time, a situation often arises where one of the users does not know that the other is typing a message, and therefore types his own message as well. This results in the two users frequently sending messages either at the same time or in close succession, thereby resulting in the IM equivalent of talking over each other. This can interrupt the flow of the conversation and make it stilted.
In order to improve the flow of the conversation, indicators are known that provide an indication to the participants of the IM conversation that one of them is typing. For example, when a user starts typing a messaging in an input field of an IM client a message is created and transmitted over the communications network to the remote user. In response to receiving the message, the client of the remote user displays a notification of the form “user X is typing”. This provides a visual indication to the remote user that the user is typing, thereby prompting the remote user to wait until the message has been sent before typing his own message. This aids the flow of the conversation by preventing the users typing over each other.
A first method for controlling the display of an IM activity indicator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,609. In this method, whenever activity from the keyboard is sensed in the IM client, a message is transmitted to the remote user. The reception of this message prompts the user interface of the remote user's client to display an activity notification. The client of the transmitting user starts a timer after sending the notification message, such that if further activity is not sensed within a predetermined time interval then a second message is sent indicating that activity has stopped. Reception of this second message prompts the user interface of the remote user's client to remove the activity notification.
A second method for controlling the display of an IM indicator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,519,639. This discloses a method in which keyboard activity is sensed at the IM client, and an activity message is transmitted to the remote user. The reception of this message prompts the user interface of the remote user's client to display an activity notification. The client then waits for a predetermined time interval, and if there was any activity at the IM client within this time interval, then a further activity message is sent to the remote user. After the remote user's client has received an activity message, this also starts a timer, such that if a further activity message is not received when the timer expires, the activity notification displayed to the remote user is deleted.
An extension to the second method above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,631,412, whereby the activity notification displayed to the remote user is deleted when the actual message comprising the information typed by the user is received at the remote user's terminal.